.....playing SO for the SOPL

I don't like to see players struggle to breed ANYTHING decent so I am posting this little tip that helps me.

SO4 is stable now but something I always do when a Starters Orders series is released is play/skip through 10-15 seasons exporting as many horses that look decent as you possibly can. These will become your marker horses to trial against when you start your league game (when SO is stable) You can play as many as possible until you are happy.

If you find something you are happy with and you want to breed with this horse you now have the option to send the horse to the transfer pool. Send any horses that stand out to the transfer pool which you can import into your league game. If you import these horses into a new game they will be named horse name II because the horse name is already in the database. Any horses you want to transfer into a new game you will have take out of the horse database by replacing it with another horse name.

Until Colm releases the guide he is working on I will post a few small things that I think help in the long run.

Exporting horses.

I wouldnt look into exporting horses at different dates. Choose a month and stick to it. I export 3yo+ plus anytime in August & 2yo's anytime after September. I am not strict because I know it doesnt matter too much when they are exported. Some horses may peak at different times but to find this out and export each horse at its peak would take an age.

Keep your horse files as organised as you possibly can. This believe it or not will help you massively. I have given this advice and my folder layout to 4 or 5 people and they all say it has helped them bigtime.

I personally like to keep my horse folders in the folder the horses are exported to. I have often seen people put the folders on the desktop. It is upto the individual but I think its much quicker & easier keep them all in the same place. Folder layout to follow.

To speed exporting horses up put SO4 in windowed mode with your horses directory open. This way you can simply drag & drop.

Folder Layout



This is my main folder directory. The green folders contain all my SAVED horses. The blue folders are what I call 'holding' folders. These will contain all un-trialled horses. Simply export horse by horse dropping it into the relevant blue folder until all horses are exported.



This is just an example of what is in the green folders. This is my UK folder.

I might be very anal with how I do things and people prefer to do it their own way. It would be interesting to know how others do it.

Agree with everything you say Jay - not often anyone says that eh?!!

My folders are similar to yours in location and structure, but although I'm thinking of making a mini comeback to the league this year,
time is very short so I dont think I need your discipline for trials!
(i.e. i dont have folders for each distance).

Good to see some familiar faces still here (you and Colm),
but I notice that old Dave Fuller is missing from the SO scene.
He is a great miss for both technical and banter reasons!

Good luck
Paul (Tweddle)

Haha, nice to hear from you Mr Tweddle. Good to see you on here also. You only miss Fuller because of the horses he used to name after you. Tweddlemania was one if I remember correctly.

Fuller has disappeared. Not a peep from him. Very strange if you ask me. I hope he returns soon though.

Jesus christ all that effort and fiddling about for what is a game my god.

No wonder you win the league for me this is just a bit of a crack and a laugh but the way some of you guys prepare for the league makes it a very elitest place to be and in all honesty you posting this up here in my view will possibly put people off joining the league and playing in it as some of you take it way to seriously.

I would imagne that a lot of people that play this game just simply do not have the time or are even willing to put that much time and effort into the game to even be competitive with some of you guys in the league as you just take it way to serious in my view.

I play the game for enjoyment, but as you progress through the season's you can get bored winning most of the group races you enter, so the next step is the league.

I use folders similar jay which saves a lot of time, once I've exported my horses I will trial all my 3yo's if they trial OK I will keep them in my game if not they are auctioned off. If the 4yo version of the horse is better then the 3yo version and vice versa in CK (i.e Zafonic 4yo beats Zafonic 3yo) I keep the best and bin the rest. It doesn't take a lot of time in fact it saves me game time as I will only get a few 3yo's that I will keep in, So I've went from have over 20 3yo's to a hand full which cut's down on a lot of time I would have used playing the game. I have auctioned off plenty of good horses Derby winners etc this way and it makes the future races more competitive in the game when your up against your old horses.

What is so hard about exporting horses and dropping them in folders?

I play the game for enjoyment and export horses along the way. The league & the league community is a great crack mate.

Winning everything in the game becomes very tedious. Each to thier own I suppose.

Why does anyone take it way too serious? Because they TRY?

Working full time & being a parent! - Trust me mate. Time is very limited.

There is nothing hard about it but to trial all your horse time and time over at various points fiddling about with this that and other to find optimum settings has to be time consuming. And doing all that is very serious no matter how you look at it for what is a game.

There is nothing wrong with trying but you take this game as life i read your posts all the time and the way you come across and the way you speak to people is like this is the only thing that matters to you i find that a bit to serious i mean you condemn anyone that has a opinion against your all the time these are things that i find way to serious.

As for the league yes i will join throw a few random horses that appear ok in a few races but i cant be arsed with all that fannying about you do its a crack thats all, you though would be disappointed if you did not win the league again im sure as thats how you come across and i find that abit to serious but hey good luck to you each to there own as you say.

And holding down a full time job and being a single parent now thats very time limiting.

LOL. My gf would agree that I play too much. I am like that with a game I enjoy. Football Manager was the old love.

Mate. I give my opinion when people attack the game/Mark without giving it time. Not a peep since these patches. People need to understand how it works.

As for trying hard to win the league. 100 other plus people TRY. Winning the league doesn't bother me. I loved the league when I was struggling in banded. Its the taking part.

I agree with this, the league gives the game longevity and playing in it is so much fun that it doesn’t really matter whether you win it or not. Like most games you’ll get serious gamers and casual gamers so there’ll always be those that will put in more time than others. When I first entered back in SO2 it was only really to beat my mate as I knew I wouldn’t have a hope of winning it, for causal gamers setting yourself individual goals is fun, it’s also a good idea if you find other players at a similar level and try to beat each other, maybe placing side bets against each other with your league money for added fun, when you have this type of competition you’ll find your stable improving as you play more to win and before you know it you’ll be competing at the top.

The top of the SOPL league is extremely competitive and for some that's not where they want to be. I think the league is completely different from the game - you could easily lose yourself in the realism of the game and disappear for hours without surfacing.

On the other hand, many people enjoy the nature of the league and the variety it gives, especially once you master the core elements of the game.

Jason should be applauded for his willingness to provide tips and tricks to others. Keep in mind, that this advice serves him no good and indeed makes it tougher for him to achieve his avowed goal.

The explanation is that there is a real community around the league made up of people for all parts of the civilised world (and Australia).

If you choose to take part in the league, expect it to be much much more competitive than winning Group One races in the game. On the other hand, expect it to be more fun once you get to know a group of people passionate about both the game and racing in general.

Coolio

Two excellent posts by Dodgy & Crazy. Both spot on.

I'll see you when you get there.